Exhibition on 400 years of news

More Scots READ ALL ABOUT IT! as revealed in new
exhibition

The Scots are some of the most avid readers of newspapers in the
world devouring more than twice the column inches than their
counterparts south of the border. A new exhibition chronicling a
selection of the millions of stories from Scottish newspapers over
the last 400 years opens in Edinburgh this summer.

'READ ALL ABOUT IT!' at the National Library of Scotland from 5
June until 31 October tells the history of the news in this
country. The exhibition charts the development of news production
from the first single-page news-sheet through to newspapers of the
18th and 19th centuries to the present-day and the latest online
news.

The National Library has some 30 kilometres of shelving housing
newspapers. Each year the Library collects almost 50,000 new copies
and the exhibition draws examples from this collection in
categories ranging from celebrity, humour, sex and violence,
tragedy and disaster to sport.

Six times more Scots read regional dailies compared with their
counterparts elsewhere in the United Kingdom and almost two and a
half million Scottish-produced newspapers are bought every week in
Scotland including the dailies, the Sundays and the regional
newspapers.

It is thought that the first published newspaper in Scotland was
detail of a political debate in 1641 but it was in the early 18th
century that newspapers became more established. The 'Caledonian
Mercury', 'Edinburgh Evening Courant', the 'Glasgow Advertiser' and
'Aberdeen Journal' were among the best-known titles. In the early
19th century publication of papers took off with 'The Inverness
Courier' in 1817, 'Perthshire Advertiser' in 1828, 'Stirling
Observer' in 1836, 'Falkirk Herald' in 1845 and 'Southern Reporter'
in 1855 all celebrating their first editions.

Martyn Wade, the National Librarian said: 'Newspapers are the
heartbeat of the nation and chronicle every facet of life in
Scotland. This exhibition will give people a flavour of the
fascinating, interesting, puzzling and often bizarre stories that
have interested readers over the centuries. People in Scotland have
a huge appetite for reading newspapers — 'READ ALL ABOUT IT!' tries
to explain why this is the case.'

Exhibition items on display include a painting of the Tay Bridge
prior to the disaster of 1879; a miner's lamp and remembrance token
from Scottish Mining Museum; a wooden printing press (late 18th
century); a dinner menu signed by the Scotland and England players
at Hampden Park in 1937 when Scotland won 3-1; Eric Liddell's 400m
athletics Gold Medal from the Paris Olympics in 1924; and printing
furniture from Robert Smail's Printing Works at Innerleithen.

Visitors will be able to win prizes by writing headlines for
historical stories, take part in printing workshops, see unique
vintage documentary footage of newspaper production; and listen to
an audio exhibition of the characteristic shouts of the newspaper
sellers in towns and cities across the country.

Media Opportunity

10.00 on Thursday 3 June at the National Library of Scotland,
George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. Photo /filming opportunity with Murdo
MacLeod — former Celtic, Hibs, Partick Thistle and Borussia
Dortmund player who holds 22 caps for Scotland, and now BBC pundit
— surrounded by tons of newspapers, a sample of the millions
available at the Library.
Also opportunities to photograph/film exhibits and displays.
Interviews are available with Murdo MacLeod and Curators Eoin
Shalloo and Helen Vincent who organised the exhibition.

Notes to Editors

Murdo MacLeod began his playing career at Dumbarton in 1974 and
four years later got a dream move to Celtic where he won five
league titles, two League Cups and two Scottish Cups in nine years.
He joined Borussia Dortmund but returned home in 1990 to join Hibs,
helping them lift the League Cup a year later before becoming
player boss at Dumbarton then Partick Thistle. He was No.2 to Wim
Jansen when Celtic halted Rangers' 10-in-a-row charge and is now
also a pundit with BBC Scotland. He has 22 Scotland caps.

The National Library of Scotland is Scotland's largest library,
serving both as a general research library and as the world's
leading centre for the printed and manuscript record of Scotland's
history and culture. It also promotes access to the ideas and
cultures of the world. It is funded by the Scottish Executive, and
is governed by a Board of Trustees.

The National Library of Scotland is one of the leading research
libraries in Europe. It houses eight million printed items and has
been a Legal Deposit library since 1710. Every week it collects
more than 4,500 new items.